Tom Holland: Still Wrong About Christianity

Historian Tom Holland has made a public confession that when it comes to his morals and ethics he is “thoroughly and proudly Christian”. (Tom Holland is a very talented writer and historian whose study of the rise of the Arab empire and birth of Islam I have discussed here. I was also fascinated by another … Continue reading “Tom Holland: Still Wrong About Christianity”


Christianity won over paganism by epitomizing pagan ideals

This continues my previous post, which was slightly misleadingly titled Why Christianity Spread So Rapidly . . .. It is for most part a distillation of Gregory J. Riley’s chapter, “Mimesis of Classical Ideals in the Second Christian Century”, found in Mimesis and Intertextuality edited by Dennis MacDonald. A related post is my discussion of … Continue reading “Christianity won over paganism by epitomizing pagan ideals”


Why Christianity spread so rapidly to become the main religion of the Roman empire

Why did the number of Christians go from zero in the year zero to become the numerical majority of persons in the Roman world by about the year 350? How does one account for its dramatic success? Many Christians themselves like to answer that question by appealing to the way Christian martyrdoms inspired the admiration … Continue reading “Why Christianity spread so rapidly to become the main religion of the Roman empire”


BRUNO BAUER: Theological Explanation of the Gospels – I. The theological explanation of the fourth Gospel

Theological Explanation of the Gospels Die theologische Erklärung der Evangelien by Bruno Bauer 1852   I. The theological explanation of the fourth Gospel. 45 For the German Protestant Church, the Johannine age of disintegration and instability began, if we leave Fichte’s declamations to the past as a prophecy of this completion of the indeterminacy that … Continue reading “BRUNO BAUER: Theological Explanation of the Gospels – I. The theological explanation of the fourth Gospel”


BRUNO BAUER: Christ and the Caesars – I. Seneca’s Religious Foundation

11 I. Seneca’s Religious Foundation. Before we begin, we will present the reader with the dismissive judgments passed by a newer school of history on Stoicism, the starting point of Seneca, for examination. 1. Recent judgments on Stoicism. One of the signs of the impending imperialism that dominates our present time is a fraction of … Continue reading “BRUNO BAUER: Christ and the Caesars – I. Seneca’s Religious Foundation”


Bk 1. Fourth Gospel. Foreword

Page III Vorwort Preface III Der reislauf der Hypothesen, die den Ursprung der Evangelien zn deuten suchten — der Hypothesen wenigstens, die der Geschichte angehören und dazu dienten, selbst durch ihren Sturz dazu dienten, die richtige Stellung der Frage herbeizuführen, war vollendet, als ich vor zehn Jahren mit dem auftrat, was ich für den Anfang … Continue reading “Bk 1. Fourth Gospel. Foreword”


The 1776 Report: History as Political Propaganda

Thank Clio that Biden withdrew the report on his first day but I still feel some dismay after having read it right through last night. It is the American counterpart of Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book, a treatise of holy writ as sacred and unquestionable Pat Robertson’s Holy Bible. My initial curiosity was stirred by … Continue reading “The 1776 Report: History as Political Propaganda”


Sifting fact from fiction in Josephus: John the Baptist as a case study

The Jewish historian Josephus writes about both genuine historical persons and events and mythical characters and events as if they are all equally historical. Adam and Vespasian, the siege of Jerusalem and the last stand at Masada, are all documented in a single work of ancient historiography. Is there some method or rule that can … Continue reading “Sifting fact from fiction in Josephus: John the Baptist as a case study”


Jesus, the ideal Greek-Roman hero? (No embarrassment criterion here)

I pulled out again my copy of “Mimesis and Intertextuality in Antiquity and Christianity” (ed. by Dennis R. MacDonald) thinking to write a layman’s review of its collection of contributions but got sidetracked (again) on re-reading Gregory J. Riley’s chapter, “Mimesis of Classical Ideals in the Second Century”. Some of Riley’s work totally rivets me … Continue reading “Jesus, the ideal Greek-Roman hero? (No embarrassment criterion here)”